3 weeks 1 day
Driver's Ed in the Bering Sea – Day 49, 8/22/2009
Wrapping up the second to last site might otherwise be an uneventful, if somewhat relaxing occasion. But today was a bit different. Most of the other transits have happened at the end of my shift, when I was really busy or fairly late at night. But today the transit happened at about 1:30pm, and it was a bright sunny day. And more importantly, Captain Alex let me drive.
There are a few things to do when we get underway, and I only handled the manual steering portion. We directed our rudders so that we were facing into the wind, and slowly increased our speed, keeping it under 3 knots (about 0.8 knots to be exact). It takes time for the thrusters to warm up and for the ship to get into the transit mode after sitting relatively stationary for several days. Going slow gives things some time to adjust and prevents us from damaging the ship (and more importantly, the folks working in the engine room in case anything goes wrong).
Basically I had to watch our heading and adjust to keep us headed in the right direction, and eventually get us onto the new heading of 353 degrees. We are headed to the farthest point North we are visiting. Since we are going above the 60th latitude, we are going into the Arctic Ocean. This is particularly interesting because in a few short months the ship will be headed to the other extreme when it reaches the Antarctic.
Eventually we turned the ships controls back to automatic, and she is already settling in at NAV1-B, soon to be site U1345. We made great time at almost 12 knots the whole way. The typhoon Vamco is headed our direction after moving away from Japan. Amusing that it will drop out of the news now that it doesn't threaten land, but it still poses a threat to us. Hopefully it will die down before we start our journey south to Japan early next Tuesday morning.
Everyone is tired and yet excited to be done. Preparations are beginning to deal with cleaning up and packing up the ship to make ready for the next expedition. There are customs forms to fill out and arrangements to be made for when we get to Japan. Of course it will be nice to have a bed that doesn't rock again.
Comments
LEXUS RUSSELL 4TH BLOCK
Hello, were you nervous about directing the boat or your own or was that just meant for the picture.cant wait to see yeah have fun
cool
wow how was it, driving the boat
Driving the Boat (or Ship)
It was great. I am so glad I got the opportunity to try it. It was a little nerve wracking, but ultimately a lot easier than I envisioned. But I did have an experienced Captain guiding my every step, so that probably helped.
Driving the JR is not like
Driving the JR is not like driving to the WalMart for a gallon of milk is it. I know how you feel. When I drove I was as nervous as I had ever been even knowing the Captain was right behind me. Congrats. Be careful about wishing for a bed that does not rock because I had trouble learning to sleep in a non rocking environment. I did not miss the ballast tanks though.
Hurd SOR 2009
Rocking Beds and Ballast Water
Not at all like driving my car in many respects. In fact I'll probably have to learn how to do that again when I get home. It's been quite a while since I've driven. I hear that many folks have had wrecks driving after a 2 month cruise. They aren't quite used to driving, so everything is a little bit off.
I hear you about the ballast tanks. They can be quite loud. Although right now the seas are calm, and the movement is relaxing. I slept like a baby last night. I hope the weather holds up!
Marika Rosser 4th block
Thats really cool have you got to sail the ship. Was is hard sailing it? Was it your first time sailing the boat? Di d you have ffun doing it?
Sailing
It wasn't hard to sail, and that was my first time. I got a bit of coaching a few hours beforehand from the Captain. He told me what to do and when at every step of the way, and he also explained why I had to do it that way. It's just like driving a car in that you shouldn't start it up from cold and race it. You've got to slowly warm it up and get it ready to move at top speed. Plus you've got an uneven surface (the ocean) and wind effecting how the ship moves. But it was a blast. The scientists teased me and said they noticed how rough it was when I was driving, but I think they were just jealous because they didn't get to drive!
Life
Hello Mr.LaVigne. How is life in the Bering Sea?
Also is the food good that you guys eat?
Hi!
The food is good. The cooks do amazing things with one supply of food from the start to finish of the expedition. We have some pretty exotic fare. Some amusing things to note about the food... when they prepare chicken, they don't cut it like I am used to in the U.S., they just cut it into sections regardless of where the bones are. It takes a little getting used to, but it is good. I love the cajun style catfish and the garlic bread.
Of course it is like eating at the same restaurant every day, 3 meals a day for two months. I am ready for some variety. Luckily I hear that the Japanese scientists on board know of some good restaurants to try when we hit Yokohama. Of course I can't wait to come home and have some of my favorite Pizza Hut!
Where's Gilligan?
Aw, how cute-- you got a skipper's hat! Where's Gilligan? (Yeah, I know, I'm setting myself up for the reverse slam, and I'm okay with that) Did you get to keep the hat? (That would actually be cool if you did)
Actually, joking aside, I'm jealous because that would have been a great experience! In truth, how many people can actually say that they have piloted such a large vessel? It may not seem like a big deal to the crew or others on board, but for the common rabble (myself included), it's nothing short of a great experience. This is especially cool for those of us in land-locked places... Again, I'm jealous.
You have mentioned Orcas and Minkes. What other interesting sea life have you seen? Which is the rarest? Which has the coolest life history? What do you see most commonly?
Best regards, L. Brian Patrick
Hello Brian
Leave it to you to find humor in that sobering moment of knowing I was at the helm of the largest ship I've ever been on. It was a serious event! :P And I do get to keep the hat, as it was a birthday gift from my friend Jason before I left on this trip, so many months ago.
I think many of the other folks on board were jealous. Not everyone gets to do what I did. Although most made jokes about the rough ride, or wanting to know why we were headed south already...
Honestly aside from the sea birds (the fulmar, gulls and an occasional albatross), there have only been small swallow looking birds. How those little guys, who obviously don't land on the water, get our here... I can't tell you. There have no other sitings other that what I've posted about. We expected a host of wildlife to be around us, but sadly that is not the case. The birds hang out, either picking up food wastes dropped in the water or eating whatever comes to eat the plankton stirred up by the thrusters. Hopefully we'll see more life as we head south in a few days. I've been told to look out for northern sea lions as we might be going near to Kamchatka to avoid the rough weather of the typhoon Vamco. Fingers crossed!
See you around Little Buddy,
Doug
Checking out the website
Hey Doug,
I am checking out the website before heading out to Yokohama and saw you driving the vessel, you are in trouble because I am going to demand that, and now you've set the precedence, the next crew is not going to like that!!
nasseer
Driving!
You should definitely demand it. It was a blast. A bit nerve wracking... I was afraid I'd screw it up. Not many things give me pause, but the thought of doing *that* wrong was crazy. The Captain gave me a short lesson earlier in the day, and then it was off to the races. You'll love it. And the science party was jealous because they didn't get to do it. The perks of our job!